Can you design your mind?

I’m pretty obsessed with the idea of a mindscape—the perspective that our minds are an ecosystem all their own, and that we are daily (maybe even minute by minute) presented with a choice. We can either allow the outside world to determine the texture and quality and nature of our minds, or we can determine those willfully and for ourselves. We can be deliberate in what our mental ecosystem looks like and how it operates.

There’s a lot of science to back this up. Look into things like neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and cognitive behavioral therapy, just as a start. But in principle, the entire field of psychology and psychoanalysis is built around this concept. Freud and Jung may have parted ways philosophically, but each believed in the mind as a landscape, filled with symbols and archetypes that, if analyzed properly, could give insight into the inner workings of the mind. They could also be altered, manipulated, assigned, or installed to shape the mind.

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This idea of the mind as a “place” actually goes way, way back into our history. Study philosophy for even a short time and you discover that Plato, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca—they all saw the mind as a “territory.” It was a battlefield or it was an ocean or it was a temple. The very concept of the “mind palace,” most notably attributed to Cicero, is built on the idea of virtually reconstructing a known physical space within the landscape of your mind, and using it as a memory aid. That’s an effective one, by the way. You should study how that works.

For thousands of years, at any rate, there has been philosophy and science building on the idea that our minds can be “structured,” and that this is a process that can be intentionally implemented. In fact, if we allow it to happen by default, as a result of whatever random stimulus we encounter throughout our lives, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that this contributes to mental illness, depression, anxiety, and a host of other maladies. Letting the world determine the landscape of your mind will likely lead to trouble.

One of the ways we can shape our own inner landscape is through controlling what we allow ourselves to dwell on. For example, if the only media we ever consume is negative, fearful mainstream media news stories, those are going to shape our inner world into a dark and frightening place. If all we watch is crime documentaries, in which the worst of humanity is typically glorified in some way, that’s going to shape us, too.

It’s important to look for and consume media and experiences that empower us and nurture within us some form of hope. Look for things that encourage thought and intelligence. Find content that makes you feel inspired, and makes you want to improve yourself and the world. Eat a steady diet of that.

It’s ok to indulge in a bit of the dark side from time to time—it’s a bit like having a chocolate after dinner. It’s when the chocolate becomes dinner that we start getting into seriously negative consequences. The world is complex—our inner world is much more so. It needs tending.

Be intentional about crafting your mental landscape. Guard your thoughts. Only allow in those things that bring you joy, rest, and peace. Be diligent about the shape, the tone, the atmosphere of your mind, and regardless of what happens out here in the “real world,” you will always have a place to retreat to and experience joy.

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